The present invention is directed to a gaming apparatus, which could be either an individual gaming unit or a gaming system having a plurality of gaming units, that is capable of shifting into a power-saving sleep, mode.
A conventional gaming unit has been provided with a display unit that is capable of generating video images, a coin or bill acceptor, and a controller with a memory and a processor that controls the overall operation of the gaming unit. The controller was programmed to allow a person to make a wager, to cause video images to be generated on the display unit, to determine an outcome of the video gambling game, and to determine a value payout associated with the outcome of the video gambling game. The conventional gaming unit was programmed to display video images representing a video gambling game, which included a number of user-selectable video gambling games including video poker, video blackjack, video slots, video keno and video bingo.
The conventional gaming unit was also programmed to cause a screen-saver sequence to be performed on the display unit. The screen-saver sequence included a plurality of video images relating to the game without the generation of sound. The gaming unit would periodically exit the screen-saver sequence to perform an attract sequence, which included a plurality of video images and the generation of one or more sound segments that were designed to attract a player to the gaming unit. If a player deposited a coin or a bill or made another input to the gaming unit during performance of the attract sequence, the gaming unit would termination the attract sequence and generate another display, such as a game-selection display, to allow the player to begin gambling. The conventional gaming unit also included an instruction sequence that included a plurality of help displays that could be displayed in response to the player pressing a “help” key or similar key.